John Hinckley to be released.
Would-be assassin of Reagan in mental hospital since attempt
WASHINGTON — John Hinckley Jr. has spent years fighting to be fully freed from the mental hospital where has been held since being found not guilty by reason of insanity for shooting President Ronald Reagan and three other men.
Next week he will finally win his release — sort of.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled Wednesday that the would-be assassin will be freed Aug. 5 from St. Elizabeths Hospital to live full-time with his mother in Virginia. But the order came with a list of conditions and restrictions.
In ordering Hinckley’s release, Friedman wrote that the presidential assailant no longer posed a threat to himself or others, and his psychotic disorder and major depression have been in remission for more than 20 years.
Federal prosecutors, who have long battled Hinckley’s doctors and lawyers over his expanding privileges, said they were reviewing Friedman’s order and declined to comment.
Michael Reagan, a son of the former president, wrote on Twitter that his father had famously forgiven Hinckley and “maybe we should do the same.”
But Reagan’s daughter, Patti Davis, expressed some resignation, blogging that she was “not surprised by this latest development, but my heart is sickened.”
Hinckley sought to kill Reagan after developing an obsession with the movie actress Jodie Foster and believing that assassinating a president would impress her. For the next year, Hinckley will reside with his mother.